Application Security Terminology

Denial of Service

Denial of Service (DoS) attacks are designed to prevent legitimate users from accessing applications or systems. These kinds of attacks typically flood targeted systems, servers, and networks with such high volumes of traffic that a victim’s resources become overwhelmed, making it difficult or impossible for legitimate users to use them.

Traditionally, Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks have been network based, with a malicious user flooding a target machine with enough traffic to make it incapable of servicing its intended users. When the attack is launched by leveraging a large number of machines, the attack is called a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack.